Hair spraying apparatus

ABSTRACT

A spraying apparatus for use of operators in beauty shops is improved. The apparatus is the type having a spray material container in one part of the shop, and air and spray material lines leading from the container to guns at operators&#39;&#39; stations. The problem of gun clogging is overcome by eliminating pinched off tubes within the gun.

I United States Patent [191 1 3,709,438 Johnson [451 Jan. 9, 1973 54] HAIR SPRAYING APPARATUS 3,122,324 2/1964 Lee ..239/3|s [76] Inventor: Donald G. Johnson, 2015 Riverside 3,637,143 1/1972 Shames et al ..239/577 X Dnve Chattanooga Tenn 37406 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. [22] Filed: Nov. 19, 1971 Assistant Examiner-Edwin D. Grant [21] App] 200 406 Attorney-Norman L. Wilson, Jr.

ABSTRACT ;;35451; A spraying apparatus for use of operators in beauty 58 1 Field of search...2 39/413 41ifs 41 s 444 526 is f T apparatus is the type havmg a 239/527 spray material container in one part of the shop, and air and spray material lines leading from the container [56] References Cited to guns at operators stations. The problem of gun clogging is overcome by eliminating pinched off tubes UNITED STATES PATENTS within the 2,584,l78 2/1952 Abbott et al ..239/527 X 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures HAIR SPRAYING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to spraying apparatus for use of operators in beauty shops, and particularly to improvements in spray guns employed in such apparatus.

A spraying mechanism of the type contemplated herein is described in U. S. Pat. No. 3,122,324. This apparatus includes a container holding a resinous hair spray in a thinner such as alcohol, an air compressor, and an air supply line delivering a low pressure air supply to the container. From the hair spray container a spray material line leads to a spray gun. An air tube also leads to the gun, air and hair spray material being commingled in a mixing chamber in the muzzle of said gun prior to being discharged through an orifice in the tip of the gun as a fine spray or mist.

In the spray gun apparatus of the U.S. Pat. No. 3,l22,324 type the flow of air and of spray material are controlled separately by the gun. Air and spray material lines pass through the handle of the gun across a plate within the handle to the mixing chamber in the gun muzzle. The trigger of the gun has a snub-nosed end inside the gun positioned to press the tubes against the plate when the trigger is released to shut off the flow through both the air and spray material lines under the action of a trigger spring. The snub-nosed end is so slanted that flow of spray material is shut off before the shutting off of the air is complete. When the trigger is squeezed against the spring the snub-nosed end no longer pinches off the two tubes. This allows each tube to open so that air and spray material can flow to the mixing chamber and out of the orifice in the form of an atomized hair spray.

The device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,324 and others overcome the problems surrounding hand-operated atomizers and aerosol spray cans. However, such spray gun systems are not without their drawbacks. Perhaps the major disadvantage of these spray gun systems is their proclivity to clogging. In use such spray gun systems require frequent inspection, and generally they must be repaired about every two weeks. There is a basic reason for this, founded in the available tubular materials. The reason is this. Tubes of nonporous materials are unsuitable for use in the spray gun handle. The plastic types either cannot be completely sealed off by the snub-nosed handle end, or they do not resume their initial shapes. The tube opening remains constricted. The elastomeric types seal well under the pressure of the snub nose, but these tubes stick together. Consequently the only satisfactory tubes have been the silicone types. However these tubes have been found to possess a slight porosity such that hair spray solvent is lost. As a result the remaining resin clogs the tube. The method of overcoming these disadvantages has been to use only a very small section of silicone tubing inside the gun handle opposite the snub nose. Each end of this section is connected to other plastic or rubber tubing. In addition to the clogging problem, as pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,324, after a period of use both the air tube and the spray material lines are worn through by continual squeezing thereof by the snub-nosed end of the trigger. Such spray apparatus thus requires close attention so that the worn pieces can be cut off or the gun unstopped after a period of nonuse. In the apparatus of my invention both of these problems are overcome. The apparatus herein. has been found to require attention about once a year instead of about once every two weeks. In addition, if guns such as that of U.S. Pat. No. 3,l22,3 24 are not used for several days they become clogged. The gun provided herein has not become clogged on nonuse even over a nine-month period.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the practice of this invention a spray gun is provided in which rubber or plastic tubing can be employed. A gun which is free of clogging and tube wear is provided for use in the hair treating apparatus wherein hair spray materials in a container located in one part of the beauty shop are forced by air pressure through tubes to spray guns at the operators stations in another part of the shop. The spray gun includes an air line and a mixing chamber in which the spray material and air intermix prior to being ejected through the orifice in the muzzle. It has been found that a quick-opening type valve, e.g. one having a substantially straight-through valve body, can be made sufficiently small to fit in a hair spray gun. In addition, if a lifting rod-operated valve is provided, the gun can be made to operate just as it did when the air and spray material tubes were pinched off. Hence, rather than requiring a certain type of tubing, the spray gun herein is provided with a trigger-actuated, quick-opening, selfclosing, single-seated control valve in the air line and in the spray material line.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Paint spray guns are provided with valve means. However these include double-action needle valves in the chamber portion of the gun. Such valves could not be reduced in size in order to fit in the handle of a small, normally plastic, hair spray gun. The two valves herein each have a cylindrical valve body containing a spring loaded valve actuated by the trigger through a lifting rod. The bodies of the valves can be sized so that two suchvalves fit in the handle of the spray gun. The air tube is, connected to the inlet of one valve and the spray material tube to the inlet of the other one. Tubes from the valve outlets terminate at the mixing chamber.

This will be apparent from the following in which preferred forms are described in greater detail by reference to the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a gun, partially cut away to show the trigger in its normal position.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary back view of the gun showing one way the valves can be held in the handle.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view showing how the valves of FIG. 1 are actuated.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate two types of valves which can be employed.

Inasmuch as beauty parlor spray systems are well known, they need not be described in detail herein.

Suffice it to say that the spray material is in a container (not shown) with closed top receiving a line from an air compressor. Air pressure acting on the surface of the spray material forces it into a line below its surface and through a rubber or plastic tube 2 to spray gun 4. In addition air, under approximately the same pressure, flows through rubber or plastic tube 6 to spray gun 4. Usually, although not necessarily, the same compressor is employed, and the air can flow through the spray container as described in US. Pat. No. 3,122,324.

Referring first to FIG. I, it will be seen that spray gun 4 resembles other hair spray guns except that the handle is slightly wider. Within the handle are valves 10 and 12. Normally the valves will be snapped into place, being held by ribs formed inside the handle. Spray material tube 2 is slideably attached to metal or hard plastic inlet conduit 14 of valve 10, air tube 6 being similarly connected to a similar inlet conduit 16 of valve 12. Since low pressure air is normally employed, adhesives, clamps and the like are unnecessary.

The outlet conduits or tubules 18 and 20 of valves 10 and 12, respectively, also of metal or hard plastic material, have rubber or plastic tubes 22 and 24 forced over them, all valve connections being leak-proof. The opposite ends of tubes 22 and 24 are attached to mixing chamber 26 at nipples not shown. Mixing chamber 26 is provided with an orifice 32 through which the intermixed spray material and air are ejected as a mist.

The details of valves 10 and 12 are best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of disc valve 10. Plug valve 30 in FIG. is somewhat different, illustrating that various miniature valves are possible. It will be noted that both valves are normally closed, the valve seating members 32 being held against valve seat 34 by spring 36. In addition both valves are provided with lifting rods 38 with unseat valve seating members 32 as a result of a lever action, for example when the lifting rods are tilted. Each valve is also provided with an outlet passageway 40 through which the air or hair spray material flows to mixing chamber 26 when valve members 32 are unseated. For compactness it is desirable that outlet passageway 40 be within the lifting rod 38 as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the valve has a central outlet conduit 40 whereas valve 30 has a side outlet conduit beside seat ring 34. Outlet conduit 40 of valve 10 is also its lifting rod 38.

Referring now to the operation of gun 4, it is apparent that both valves 10 and 30 contain seating members which are unseated when the lifting rods are slightly tilted or raised. This tilting is accomplished by squeezing trigger 40 which is normally forced away from handle 42 of gun 4 by the action of spring 44. Trigger 40 is pivotally joined to gun 4 by pin 46 or similar connection. When the trigger is squeezed projecting nub 50 or other lever means urges lifting rod 18 to one sideas shown in FIG. 3. Tilting of the lifting rod unseats the valve, allowing a flow of fluid through conduit 40, tube'22 and, through 32, as a spray, onto the hair. As is known it is desirable to initiate air flow prior to spray material flow. Accordingly nub 50 has a stepshaped, or slanted, tip so that it tilts the lifting rod of the air valve prior to tilting the hair spray material valve rod.

Referring again to FIG. 5, it is to be understood that whereas tilt valves are the most desirable other lever means can act on the lifting rod to unseat the valve. The rod can be provided with a slot 54 and an arm 56 pointed to fit into the slot so that lifting rod 38 can be moved upwardly rather than tilted. In addition a lever with a cam action can be used. Other modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. For example, rather than plastic ribs so that the valves can be snapped in la e, t e valves n be hel wit in the handle b gpri ng clips 8 and 9 as shown i n Fl 2. Moreover an;

of the single-seated, spring-closed, quick-opening plug or disc control valves can be used, preferably an in-line valve within a straight-through body. It will also be apparent that there are other advantages to this invention besides that of overcoming clogging and tube wear. For instance the spray gun in the apparatus herein is much more positive in its action than prior art equipment. The flow of spray material through the valve can be controlled by the extent to which the lifting rod is tilted or raised. It will be obvious also that the shape of the gun is subject to considerable variation. Thus instead of the shape shown, more artistic guns or spray devices are possible. For instance the spray device can be cylindrical or conical instead of gun-shaped. Moreover additional valves and lines can be included within the spray device. As an example additional flow lines and valves can be included in the device for finish sprays and the like. The invention thus provides an effective solution to the problems encountered heretofore in such apparatus.

What is claimed is:

I. In a spraying apparatus for the use of hair treating operators including: a container for the material to be sprayed, a low pressure air line connected to and delivering a continuous supply of low pressure air into the container, a spray gun provided with a mixing nozzle, a low pressure air tube leading to said gun, and a spray material tube leading from the container to the spray gun; a spray gun which is free of clogging and of tube wear comprising a hollow gun portion, a pair of quick-opening, self-closing, single-seated control valves, each valve having a cylindrical valve body containing a spring-loaded valve operable by a lifting rod, the valve body being sized so the two valves fit within the handle in said hollow portion, each valve being provided with an inlet and an outlet tube connection, means connecting the inlet of the first valve to the air tube, means connecting the inlet of the second valve to the spray material tube, means conveying air from the outlet of the first valve to the gun nozzle, means conveying spray material from theoutlet of the second valve to the gun nozzle, trigger means having one end in pivotal connection with said handle and a free end capable of being squeezed toward the handle, spring biasing means urging the free end of the trigger away from the handle, and lever means carried by the trigger, urging each valve rod against its spring when the trigger is squeezed, compressing said spring and permitting the valve to become unseated.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each valve lifting rod contains a fluid passage therethrough, said passage being the valve outlet conduit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein each valve has a straight-through valve body.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the trigger means actuates the air valve prior to actuating the spray material valve.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the low pressure air tube and the spray material tube are plastic. 

1. In a spraying apparatus for the use of hair treating operators including: a container for the material to be sprayed, a low pressure air line connected to and delivering a continuous supply of low pressure air into the container, a spray gun provided with a mixing nozzle, a low pressure air tube leading to said gun, and a spray material tube leading from the container to the spray gun; a spray gun which is free of clogging and of tube wear comprising a hollow gun portion, a pair of quick-opening, self-closing, single-seated control valves, each valve having a cylindrical valve body containing a spring-loaded valve operable by a lifting rod, the valve body being sized so the two valves fit within the handle in said hollow portion, each valve being provided with an inlet and an outlet tube connection, means connecting the inlet of the first valve to the air tube, means connecting the inlet of the second valve to the spray material tube, means conveying air from the outlet of the first valve to the gun nozzle, means conveying spray material from the outlet of the second valve to the gun nozzle, trigger means having one end in pivotal connection with said handle and a free end capable of being squeezed toward the handle, spring biasing means urging the free end of the trigger away from the handle, and lever means carried by the trigger, urging each valve rod against its spring when the trigger is squeezed, compressing said spring and permitting the valve to become unseated.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each valve lifting rod contains a fluid passage therethrough, said passage being the valve outlet conduit.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein each valve has a straight-through valve body.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the trigger means actuates the air valve prior to actuating the spray material valve.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the low pressure air tube and the spray material tube are plastic. 